HOOVER, ALA. -- LSU proved its toughness in the long haul of the SEC regular season by squeezing out the championship on the final day.

On Wednesday, the Tigers ran into the conference's hottest team and perhaps its best pitcher.

Butch Dill / The Associated PressMississippi State's Chris Stratton, who had a tough loss in 10 innings against LSU on March 16, had his way with the Tigers in their SEC Tournament game Wednesday. Stratton held the Tigers to just five hits and two runs in six innings, striking out eight, in a 3-2 victory.

Mississippi State right-hander Chris Stratton shut down No. 2-ranked LSU for six innings, and the Bulldogs' bullpen finished it off in a 3-2 victory at Regions Park in the SEC Tournament.

Demarcus Henderson's run-scoring single in the seventh inning was the difference. It came two innings after LSU (42-15) had rallied to tie the score on Mason Katz' two-run single.

It was the fifth consecutive victory for No. 21 Mississippi State (36-21), which has won 15 of its past 20 games.

Stratton, who struck out 17 in a no-decision, 3-2 Bulldogs loss in 10 innings against the Tigers on March 16, is 11-1.

The loss derailed LSU (42-15) into the losers bracket, where the Tigers face Ole Miss (35-23) in an elimination game at 9:30 a.m. today. LSU ace Kevin Gausman, who has complete-game victories in his past two outings, will start for the Tigers.

Stratton allowed five hits, struck out five in the first two innings and eight overall, with two walks and a hit batsman. Caleb Reed and Jonathan Holder combined to retire all nine batters they faced in the final three innings.

"We knew going into the game there wasn't going to be a lot of margin for error going up against Stratton," LSU Coach Paul Mainieri said. "We've seen him for three years, and that's the fourth time he's pitched against us. I'm about ready for that kid to go to professional baseball."

Indeed, Mainieri tried to stack his hitters. He moved Katz and Raph Rhymes up one spot to the Nos. 2 and 3 spots, and put lefty-hitting Tyler Moore and Grant Dozar and switch-hitter Arby Fields behind them in the middle of the order.

Mainieri was thinking it might pay off when Stratton hit leadoff batter Austin Nola to start the game, but Katz struck out looking. After Rhymes singled, Dozar and Moore went down swinging.

"It was him being able to control both pitches," said Rhymes. "He can throw the fastball and the slider for a strike. You can't go up there thinking one pitch. He's going to keep you off balance and stay around the zone.

Said Katz: "He doesn't get into patterns. My first couple at-bats, he came at me fastball-slider, then he came at me fastball-curve. It looked the same, same spin, breaks a little more. He works both sides of the plate, he's a hard thrower with a good breaking ball. He's got a bright future."

In the fifth, Katz battled back from an 0-2 count and fouled off two full count-pitches before tying the score with his base hit to left. He was caught stealing, ending the inning with Rhymes at the plate.

LSU's pitching was nearly as good as the Bulldogs' ace. LSU's plan was for Aaron Nola to pitch two innings before giving way to various pitchers from the bullpen. Brent Bonvillain gave up three consecutive bloop hits for one Mississippi State run in the third, and then Brent Brownlee hit one up the middle for another run.

The decisive run scored after Mitch Slauter's one-out double off Joe Broussard, pitching his third relief inning. Henderson then ripped an 0-2 pitch to center to score Slauter easily.

"It was a two-strike pitch, and instead of throwing the ball in the dirt, we left it up a little bit," Mainieri said. "To his (Henderson's) credit, he got a base hit on it. We couldn't muster anything against their bullpen after that.

"Our kids played hard; we came up a bit short. Tip my hat to Mississippi State. They played a really solid game. We have to regroup and be ready to go (in the) morning."

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Jim Kleinpeter can be reached at jkleinpeter@timespicayune.com or 504.826.3405.